'Quit Captaincy Like Virat Kohli..': Ex-PAK Star Advices Babar Azam to Step Down as Pakistan Skipper

Babar Azam should look to quit Pakistan’s captaincy in order to play freely, says former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali. Basit’s remarks came after the Men in Green suffered an eight-wicket defeat to Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup 2023 at Chennai on Monday. Up until yesterday, Pakistan had never lost an ODI match against Afghanistan, but the Green Army failed to defend their total of 282 runs, resulting in a massive defeat, their third consecutive loss in the World Cup 2023.

Babar and Co. had won two matches back to back to start their World Cup campaign on a high but since losing to India, everything has changed. Pakistan lost to Australia and then suffered a defeat to Afghanistan as pressure continues to mount on the Greeny Army.

While Babar himself scored 74 runs against Afghanistan, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s side chased down the required target of 283 without much fuss, as Pakistan bowlers looked completely toothless.

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Ever since Naseem Shah got injured during the Asia Cup 2023, the fearsome Pakistani bowling attack has struggled to deliver. Shaheen Shah Afridi has been at his usual best, but he has not received the desired support from the likes of Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan.

After Pakistan’s third defeat in a row, Basit Ali has advised Babar to follow in Virat Kohli’s boots and step down as captain to focus solely on his batting.

“I told one year ago on my channel, that Babar Azam is a very good batter. He should quit captaincy, just like Virat Kohli did. Virat stepped down and look at his performances. His performance will become better, for sure,” said Ali on ARY News.

“But, as we all know, certain people on social media twisted my words, saying I don’t like Babar Azam and I am a traitor,” he added.

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Earlier, Virat had stepped down as T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup and quit Test captaincy shortly afterwards, but since then, the 34-year-old has scored runs aplenty. He was undergoing a lean patch under his own captaincy but ever since Rohit Sharma took over as captain in all formats, Kohli has undergone a purple patch, smashing multiple centuries.

The talismanic batter currently leads the scoring charts in the ODI World Cup so far, with 354 runs under his belt in five matches.